We all have one whether we are conscious of how it works or not. Mine has migrated over the years from all my writing being handwritten to all on the computer and then somewhere in between depending on the genre. I’ve never been one who can really only write in a specific location or in specific circumstances but I have noticed one thing that started while I was still working that has continued until today: I like taking notes.
Yep, I’m a notetaker. I’ve always enjoyed keeping a notebook or a journal or a to-do list and it has served me well in finding a way to effectively write and I bring this up because it was like a lightbulb last night as I was struggling to try and write a short girl poem (the short girl poems are not going well).
I write best when I make a note about an idea in my little notebook or in a txt document on the computer that I keep, a note that I come back to at some later date when I have time to actually write the idea out. If I immediately write the idea out 90% of the time I end up with a babble filled non-poem. If I make the note and come back to it, even a half an hour later my brain seems to have been subconsciously thinking about it and I end up with actual additional thoughts to back up the initial spark.
The short poems that have come out “okay” are the ones where I had written down an idea and come back to it. It is still a struggle to work on them and I’m not sure the whole short fat yoga idea is going to come to fruition, I got the fat and the yoga but that darn short girl is being a PITA! I’m not deleting anything up because I’m not revising until December so mabye something is there that I just can’t see now?
And here is my yoga poem from the Poem a Day Challenge/ NaNoWriMo version from 11-20-09
So, what kind of systems have you guys come up with? Rituals?
[nighty night poem!]
I’m a note-taker, too. I keep a notebook in my purse, and a pad in the kitchen. The other night while I was making dinner I had some ideas that I jotted down, and ended up drafting out a piece that I was on deadline for and hadn’t begun!
In other words, clear your head and be ready for what’s lying in wait.
Jessica-I so agree with you on this. I’ve really discovered if I just let my mind do other things, the best stuff comes to me. I’m looking forward to an upcoming long drive just for that! Gonna use my phone audio recorder!
Jessie,
I like your analysis of the writing process, and can relate to the idea of note-taking, especially being primarily a non-fiction writer. I agree that everyone has a writing process, regardless of whether or not they are aware of it. I think developing an understanding of one’s own writing process is a sign of maturity as a writer, and can help a person to approach their writing more effectively (and efficiently).
Good luck on the short poems!
Cheers,
Cynthia Reeser
Thanks Cynthia! I think our world as writer’s is continually changing but I agree learning what you do the actual “how to” helps to move forward. Maybe that is another way writing can be like therapy?
A prof of mine once said that those who consider themselves writers should never be without paper and pen because you never know from where inspiration will come. This is true, and I make it a point to keep paper and pens near me at all times. When they aren’t available, I use my notebook app on my phone. The worse, though, is when inspiration strikes in the middle of the night. For that, I recite the note over and over in my head until I’m sure I’ve committed it to memory. First thing in the morning: I get it out on paper.
Tel – I’m impressed you can remember them at night. If I don’t get up and scribble them down I don’t remember them, or if I do, it is days later! I found this great mini pen and I found the back of business cards are great if you want to travel light
Paper napkins, the interior of cigarette packages, toilet paper on one occasion, card stock, post its, old Christmas wrapping paper, the side of a cardboard box, the palm of my hand and yes, actual Paper. I find Jessie, the older I get, the more it means to write it down as it comes. I sadly lament the loss of what I consider a gift of good prose lost because I didn’t respect that my memory now has some swiss cheese qualities. I liked this post very much Jessie because it reminded me that something as fleeting as a phrase can turn the corner in a stagnant story IF it’s written down immediately.
Exactly Val! I’ve never had a good short term memory! When I was working, I had to make sure to write down the name of whoever I was speaking to on the phone so I wouldn’t, embarrassingly, have to ask them for their name again
Glad you enjoyed it!
My poetry writing is usually erratic! the only consistent thing is that I have to write longhand. This month I’ve been writing notes in my lunch break and then either working from them or rejecting them in the evening.
Hang in there with the yoga poems, I’m really enjoying them – in a lot of them there is unexpected sadness – todays her head in her knees.
Kate – sounds like you are doing the same type of writing I was doing when I worked full-time! The worst part is trying to see if I can still recognize my handwriting. Ya know, I found it helpful to let things sit for several days or weeks before I went back to revise
I really am enjoying writing the yoga poems and I am glad so many people are responding to them, it is just the companion series I am trying to write that aren’t quite matching up. They end up sounded mean spirited..hmmm
Jessie, I am also a note taker. I carry around a moleskine notebook in my purse. When I am at work I typically have a blank Google docs page open. Right now there is a big file for the NOVPAD challenge. I have only drafted two of 22 but that is better than nothing in this very ‘free-time-single-working-parent-challenged’ life of mine.
No, you have nothing to do so get to writing! (please note the sarcasm)
Man, I don’t want to go back to being without google docs ever again!
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